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<br />S. 1114 Title IV addresses two urban water
<br />pollution sources: CSOs and municipal separate
<br />stormwater discharges. The bill endorses the EPA
<br />draft policy on CSO control practices, but provides
<br />new authority to grant the long-term permits needed
<br />to implement the policy, The bill eliminates the
<br />obligation of most small communities (100,000 or less)
<br />to have permits for discharges of stormwater and
<br />provides for the development of permits for larger
<br />communities based on both minimum program
<br />elements and compliance with water quality standards.
<br />Also, under new authority, EPA would coordinate
<br />federal policies on municipal, industrial, commercial,
<br />and residential water conservation.
<br />
<br />Title V of S. 1114 changes several CWA point
<br />source permit requirements and clarifies permit
<br />issuance procedures. It would also require states to
<br />assess permR fees to support their water quality
<br />programs, A number of amendments are made to
<br />enforcement provisions to clarify administrative, civil,
<br />and criminal penalty elements of the law. Further,
<br />citizen suits would be allowed as a remedy against
<br />repeat offenders. And, states would be required to
<br />adopt authOrities for administrative penalties, or face
<br />loss of CWA Section 106 grant funding.
<br />
<br />The bill's title on program management contains
<br />authority to demonstrate improved water pollution
<br />control practices, technologies, and processes. CWA
<br />provisions are clarified concerning state certification
<br />under Section 401 of activities or projects affecting a
<br />state's water quality laws. A national program of water
<br />quality information and education is established.
<br />Increased funds would be available under Section 518
<br />to Indian tribes for wastewater treatment works and
<br />NPSP management, and tribes would receive funds
<br />directly from EPA.
<br />
<br />S. 1114 lacks wetlands provisions. Staff, however,
<br />have indicated the committee's intent to introduce a
<br />wetlands bill in the near future. This bill may
<br />eventually be incorporated into the larger CWA
<br />reauthorization legislation,
<br />
<br />WESTERN GOVERNORS
<br />
<br />Western Governors' Association-Annual Meeting
<br />
<br />The Western Governors' Association (WGA) held its
<br />annual meeting in Tucson, Arizona June 19 - 22, The
<br />
<br />Governors, under the leadership of Chairman Fife
<br />Symington of Arizona, addressed several issues
<br />important to the West, Including the North American .
<br />Free Trade Agreement, Grand Canyon visibility issues,
<br />national economic policy, and environmental
<br />technologies and regional development. On Monday
<br />morning, June 21, Dave Kennedy, WSWC Chairman
<br />and Director of the Calnornia Department of Water
<br />Resources, reported to the governors on Council
<br />activities, along with the respective chairs of the
<br />Western Interstate Energy Board and the Western
<br />Interstate Commission on Higher Education. Following
<br />this business meeting, a plenary session was held
<br />entitled 'Our Lands: New Strategies for Protecting the
<br />West.' It began with remarks by Robert Armstrong,
<br />Assistant Interior Secretary for Land and Minerals
<br />Management, Elizabeth Rieke, Assistant Secretary for
<br />Water and Science, and Jim Baca, Director of the
<br />Bureau of Land Management. In that portion of her
<br />remarks devoted to water issues, Assistant Secretary
<br />Rieke described the Colorado River as a river of
<br />controversy, which is 'locked up in the law of the
<br />river.' She said, this situation 'prevents us from
<br />moving forward' regarding cost effective salinity
<br />control measures, endangered species protection, and
<br />serving burgeoning populations. She concluded,
<br />'figuratively speaking, we need to melt these chains,'
<br />She described this as an extremely difficult challenge, .
<br />but noted that the Administration sees an opening.
<br />'Others have solutions, we don't, but there is an
<br />opportunity,' she said. She also referred to the
<br />challenges associated with the salmon issues in the
<br />Northwest. She described resolving these issues as
<br />an even bigger task than that posed in the Colorado
<br />River Basin. 'Here,' she noted, 'we don't have a good
<br />Idea about what must be done, but we must try.'
<br />
<br />Ms. Rieke's comments regarding the Colorado
<br />follow earlier remarks by Interior Secretary Babbitt,
<br />given at the National Press Club, where he noted that
<br />Las Vegas is forced to turn to much more costly
<br />solutions, '[B]ecause Las Vegas...under existing
<br />law...cannot take more water from the Colorado River,
<br />which runs right by its own doorstep.... I pledge to
<br />find a market mechanism to help Las Vegas enter a
<br />new era of water management' (WSW #991).
<br />
<br />Governor Bob Miller of Nevada was elected WGA
<br />Chairman to succeed Governor Symington, and
<br />Governor Mike Leavitt of Utah was elected Vice-
<br />Chairman,
<br />
<br />The WESTERN STATES WATER COUNCIL is an organization of representatives appointed by the Governors of .
<br />member slates - Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota,
<br />Oregon, Sooth Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, and associate member state Oklahoma.
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